American Health Care Act fails to stack up against Affordable Care Act

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The American Health Care Act was passed by the House Budget Committee on Mar. 16, 2017. This bill was later introduced into the House of Representatives on Mar. 20, and will be looked over by the House Rules Committee on Mar. 22.

House Republicans, led by Speaker Paul Ryan, engineered the bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

This puts the act in a precarious spot. The American Health Care Act (AHCA) has major differences from its predecessor. Such differences can radically shift the current healthcare system and thus affect millions of Americans across the country. This is why it is important to compare the American Health Care Act with the Affordable Care Act, and to truly find out if the future of health is either doomed, or in good hands.

The first big change in the AHCA is its policy on subsidies. A subsidy is a grant of money that one gets back from the government, in this case for aid to one’s medical bills. The ACA (Affordable Care Act) originally had subsidies based entirely on the income of the person. In the AHCA, however, this system is switched to an age based rate. Additionally, the ACA provided tax credits for any out of pocket expenses made by the individual, while the AHCA completely revokes that staple.

This change has some drastic repercussions. First off, the removal of the income based subsidies would make paying for healthcare an even more arduous task for poor people. The same goes with the tax credits, as poorer individuals would not have as much out of pocket money to spend on ludicrously high medical costs. Secondly, the age based levelling also hurts younger people. Since the older you get, the more subsidies you earn, people applying for health insurance for the first time at a young age would be gimped from the start, especially if they do not have a high paying job.

Another major change in the AHCA is with Medicaid. The ACA provided federal funds to anyone who qualified within states with expanded Medicaid, which reached to above 138 percent of the poverty level, which also is $12,060 a year for individuals and $41,320 for a family of 8. The AHCA, however, caps federal funds to states with Medicaid per capita, and reduces funds to states with expanded Medicaid.

These major cuts are incredibly damaging to those in need of Medicaid. While the 138 percent may seem quite extreme, when you do the numbers, it turns out to be quite reasonable. A single person at max would be on Medicaid if their income was $28,702.80, which is still quite a low yearly income that would struggle with paying for insurance and for medical bills.

Looking at these major changes and shifts in the dynamic of American health care that would be caused by the American Health Care Act, it seems to only be hurting poor individuals and restrict them from getting the health care they need. This is best shown in the estimate by the Brookings Institution, which states that over ten years, if left untouched, the current bill would cause 15 million Americans to lose their health insurance.

This all stacks up to show that the current state of the American Health Care Act would not stack up for today’s needs in health. The bill is so broken, that many House Republicans that supposedly would support this bill oppose it vehemently. It really makes you wonder if replacing the Affordable Care Act is a good idea or not.

Now, the bill could be modified later down the line, which could bring in the needed adjustments to accommodate this. Not only that, but the bill actually saves the federal government a good chunk of money, leaving that for other programs to get necessary funding.

However, with the millions of American lives put at financial and physical risk by this bill, saving a good chunk of money should not be our government’s priority when changing our healthcare system.

The American Health Care Act isn’t as old as the disastrous Affordable Care Act. You might as well slaughter a baby spartan for being weak: give it time to be finalized (or be fully integrated into the system). Along with this, it is meant to be different BECAUSE the Affordable Care Act was a disaster.

You are one of those people that would rather spend money on people who don’t work and live on welfare instead of spending the money on food, water, and bulletproof vests for the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines that spend their lives in the combat zones protecting your sorry life. You don’t realize that a family of eight is 2 parents and 6 kids, and that is unaffordable for even a middle class family with a high amount of income, so maybe people should make better life decisions so that the Federal government doesn’t have to take care of them. Also the older you get the more likely you are to get cancer, which is one of the most expensive medical conditions someone could have. Also when you are 26 you are still on your parents healthcare plan, so young people will not be as greatly affected as you claim. Many people usually find a stable job by 26 or soon after.

You need to stop the Trump Hating!!! I am sick and tired of turning on the computer and just seeing all the negativity. Ronald Reagan once said, “Let me say this as polite as I can, to all the Paid Political Complainers, PUT OR SHUT UP!”. You need to either make a difference in this world or just stop writing, because nobody I know agrees with you, we all think you are just a whining hipster who has no direction in life!

I am currently a fan of the new health care plan. The affordable healthcare act made it cheaper for the hardest working of individuals to pay a fee for not joining the system, rather than being part of Obamacare. Many people who make a good salary are being ripped away from their hard earned cash, sending it to people who collect welfare for 99 weeks. It is very important for the government to save money after Obama’s $8 Trillion spending spree. Heath care is like a car, If you can afford it, Get a Maserati, if your in the middle, buy a Toyota, and if your in the lower sector, get a used car. You imply that everyone has the right to a Maserati.

are you seriously saying that only rich people should have good healthcare? how can you even think that healthcare is in anyway equatable to a car? the right to proper healthcare should be universal. not just the rich getting good healthcare and the poor having to get terrible healthcare. it is disgusting and inhumane to say that the poor deserve to be treated as second hand citizens in regards to medicine because they don’t have the right. also pretty inconsiderate to assume that everyone who works hard will be able to afford good healthcare, working hard doesn’t automatically make you rich. there are plenty of people who work hard who still struggle to pay for things like healthcare, and plenty of people who barely work and are millionaires.

You’re so quick to criticize Obama for spending but don’t acknowledge that Trump is costing American Taxpayers $400,000 per day because Melania and Trump’s son don’t live in the white house, and 4 million dollars every time Trump goes on a Golfing trip to Mar-a-Lago.

This new bill isn’t great but it’s better than that trash Obamacare. The next step up for Obamacare by Democrats would be a nationalized healthcare system, like Britain’s failing NHS. Leaving hundreds of thousands if not millions of people without proper care because the doctor or dentist would be filling in a quota. Screw anybody who came after the quota because now they are just working for free. Competition should regulate healthcare, not the government.

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